


Second Chance

by Eriakit



Series: Saeri Verse [4]
Category: Warcraft - All Media Types, World of Warcraft
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Humor, Time Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-23
Updated: 2017-02-23
Packaged: 2018-09-26 10:17:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9888092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eriakit/pseuds/Eriakit
Summary: He turned abruptly to look at the elf next to him, and realized he COULD turn abruptly. The pain in his bones and stiffness in his muscles had eased for the first time in decades. The elf riding beside him shook her head and smiled gently at his confused face. “I thought you knew about the Caverns?”(Khadgar and an OFC take a trip to the Caverns of TIme.)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Failure](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9870797) by [Pilux](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pilux/pseuds/Pilux). 



> I read an angsty Khadgar Has Regrets fic and I was Inspired to make a happy. Far, far, far in the future.

 

 

Khadgar did his best to ignore the pain that riding caused him as they made their way down the dark, stone tunnel, his horse - borrowed from the stable master in Gadgetzan - and the hawkstrider his companion was riding both plodding grudgingly through the sand. He blinked in surprise as they continued down the tunnel and the cave ceiling opened up to the sky. No - not the sky, he realized. It had to be the Twisting Nether, the bright lights trailing through darkest black.

He turned abruptly to look at the elf next to him, and realized he _could_ turn abruptly. The pain in his bones and stiffness in his muscles had eased for the first time in decades. The elf riding beside him shook her head and smiled gently at his confused face. “I thought you knew about the Caverns?”

“I-I knew _of_ them, certainly, but I had never heard about… _this._ A-any of this,” he stuttered, weak lungs making him pause for breath.  
Saeri nodded, the red of her hair brightening slightly before his eyes, and when she tilted her head to consider her next words he saw a scar on her neck fade to nothing. “It wasn’t always so… volatile. But after everything…” She sighed. “In any case, most people get a little distracted by time travel and dragons and forget to mention feeling more of a spring in their step as they traipse through the timeways.”

He chuckled, and for the first time in a decade didn’t cough directly after doing so. They continued on in silence until the path opened up before them into a massive cavern. There were caves and trails leading off from the sides at seemingly random intervals, and he could swear that some of them moved, or disappeared entirely, but he could never quite remember where or what it had been before. He winced as a slight pain beat at the back of his skull and his travel companion patted his shoulder affectionately once they had both dismounted.

“Mortals really aren’t supposed to be here for long. I just get a bit dizzy, but I hear it’s worse the shorter your lifespan is. A bronze tried to explain it to me, once, something about exposure to time and the way our minds are used to processing more memories? I’ll admit I wasn’t entirely focused on what she was saying.”  
  
Khadgar scoffed at his friend. “You’re rarely entirely focused on what people are saying, you’re far too busy thinking up ways to get into their pants. Or their coffers.”  
  
Their laughter was interrupted by a low voice to Khadgar’s left. “She’s much the same in every timeway and universe I have visited. The point of commonality is comforting, when she isn’t trying to bed me or steal one of our hourglasses.”

Khadgar turned to find another blood elf woman, this one with light brown hair and with blazingly blue eyes. His companion bobbed a short bow before speaking. “Soridormi. Always a pleasure - though perhaps not as much of one as I’d like.”

Khadgar choked on another laugh - flirting with the Queen of the Bronze Flight, of all people - and bowed low. Soridormi _hmm_ ’d amusedly and gestured for them to follow as a young drake gently herded their mounts to a pen along the nearest wall. “You’re incorrigible,” Khadgar hissed, feeling like a snickering teen again. As they followed Soridormi over the sands, he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the large, broken pieces of glass scattered around the central dais and gasped. He gaped dumbly at his darkening hair, his smoother face, how he was standing straight and not forced to stoop under the weight of his own bones. “I’m - Saeri -”  
  
She nodded and came to take his hand in hers. Soridormi waited patiently for them at an offshoot of the Cavern, and Khadgar tried to gather himself - so as to not make her wait for long, if nothing else. His friend gave him the time he needed to breathe - and how easily he breathed, and with no need of potion to clear his lungs! - and he spent it watching as his reflection gradually became younger and younger. He’d never seen himself like this. The spell had shot him from youth to elder in a heartbeat, and now he was seeing what he would have looked like at… forty or so at this moment, if he’d had to guess. It was bizarre.

He turned from the glass to meet understanding green eyes. “Come on, Khadgar. We’re close.”

Khadgar nodded mutely and followed her, holding tightly to her hand to keep himself from staring into any more reflective surfaces. If he grew accustomed to this newfound youth he may never want to leave.

They caught up to Soridormi and Khadgar began to speak before he lost his nerve, flinching minutely as how his voice had strengthened and now rang clearly when he spoke. “So what aid can I provide? Saeri told me you had need of my services, but she refused to specify.”

Soridormi turned to the elf in question and raised her eyebrow inquiringly. Saeri shrugged. “I had to get him here. He had to see, or he’d refuse on principal. Now we can explain it to him and he might actually buy what we’re selling.”

Khadgar frowned. “What sort of plot have you concocted now?”

She grinned up at him. “As if you’re one to talk, you’re the master of harebrained ideas.” Her smile dimmed a bit when his scowl didn’t budge, and she sighed. “You would have died tomorrow.” He rocked back on his heels at the blunt statement, and she tightened her grip on his hand to keep him from letting go. “Old age, the planet explodes, someone throws a mug and you trip and crack your skull open, an assassin takes you down in a final battle royale - I don’t know. Doesn’t matter. You die tomorrow.”

He gaped at her. “How do you -”  
  
She gestured at the cavern around them. “I have friends everywhere, one of them here owed me a favor and I told him to give me a heads up when certain people are going to die. He doesn’t tell me how, just who and when, and it’s up to me to try to do anything about it.”

Khadgar shook his head, shoving the rising dread down until he could ignore it. “Only you would have a dragon feeding you information on when influential figures die.”

“No, I don’t.” Confused, he opened his mouth to ask, but she was already answering. “Influence has nothing to do with it. I asked him to tell my if my _friends_ were up for the block, Khadgar. And now you are. I don’t have that many, and the few times it’s been an issue I couldn’t do shit, or they wouldn’t’ve wanted me to. But you - you deserve better than to just _die_ at the end of all of this shit.” She nodded at Soridormi. “So I called in another favor.”

The dragon stepped to the side and gestured, and Khadgar could suddenly make out Elwynn Forest through the portal behind her, where before it had only been a vague swirl of colors. “I can change the location if you like, Archmage. But this is a thin point between our universe and a smaller, weaker one. Such things happen - random chance has a mirroring universe fail where what we consider the ‘primary’ one succeeded. In this universe, at the moment this portal leads to, the orcs have just stepped foot on Azeroth. They will roll over it like a tide and bring the Fel to every corner of Azeroth, because in this mirroring universe you died of a coughing illness as an infant.”

Soridormi met his shocked eyes and continued. “The deal our mutual friend has negotiated for you is this: should you accept, you will go through this portal and live out another full life. You will retain your memories of this universe, including all of the trials that lay ahead, and you may do as you please with that information. The Bronze Flight has no need to keep this side-universe pure, and so will not hinder you in any way. You will keep a timeway - even if a minor one - from falling entirely to the Fel, and your reward shall be another life.” She smiled. “Hopefully a happier one, as you will already have many of the answers to the problems you will face.”

Khadgar stood, shaking, his hand white-knuckled around Saeri’s, and considered. He cleared his throat. “What’s the catch?” he croaked.

Saeri answered before Soridormi could. “You can’t come back.” He looked at her, and she was smiling even as she teared up. “It’s a one-way trip. No flipping back and forth between the two universes to help, no contact with this side. In this universe you’re dead as of tomorrow, either because you _do_ die, or because you’ve left this timeline.” Her grinned widened and the tears finally fell. “I’ve got trusted people setting it up so a body’s found - and no, we didn’t kill some innocent civilian, don’t worry. Some poor sod who looks enough like you that an illusion can handle the rest. I’m sure you’ll have a lovely funeral.”

Khadgar looked down at the sand, eyes burning. A second chance - a way to fix his mistakes, to live a happier life. He would be able to see his friends - to _save_ his friends… though, he supposed, it would still have it’s difficulties. He licked his lips, ignoring the tears flowing over his cheeks, and swallowed before meeting Soridormi’s eyes again. “How will I get anyone to believe me? About what comes, I mean.”

She shrugged. “That, Archmage, is up to you. You can lie, claim whatever you like to get them to believe you. You can tell them the whole truth of who you are and where you’ve come from. You can find some middle ground between the two.You’re free to do what you believe works best. We’ll seal this breach, and nothing which happens to either side will influence the other. If you have need of my Flight, they reside in the same places there as they do here, and we will always be willing to aid someone who has worked so hard to protect us all.”

The temptation to do this, to accept this deal, was growing impossibly strong. He choked, shaking his head. “I shouldn’t - I don’t deserve -”  
  
Nails bit into his hand and he stared down at his friend. “Shut up,” she hissed, suddenly vicious. “There’s few who’ve worked harder for Azeroth, Khadgar, and you’ve precious little to show for it. Last I counted, you’ve fewer friends than I do, no family to speak of, and you’ve given damn near everything you own to Dalaran already. For once, just this once, follow someone else’s foolish plan.” She glared, glowing eyes burning into him. “Be selfish and _take the deal.”_

He breathed deeply for a moment, then used their hands to abruptly yank the elf into a hug. It was tight enough neither could breathe, and he felt his heart hammer against his chest from lack of air as much as the realization he would actually do this, actually _get_ to do this, washing through him. All his dreams about being able to go back and fix anything, even just one thing, all his regrets that he’d poured over time and time again, and now he _could._

He pulled back and held her face in his hands. _“Thank you,”_ he whispered, and pressed a kiss to her hairline before leaning their foreheads together. Ignoring their wet cheeks, she grinned and he returned it. He felt young - he was probably as young as he’d been when the orcs came through originally, now, or just about - and he chuckled with the lightning rush of another adventure.

Saeri swatted his shoulder sharply and stepped back. “Well what are you waiting for?!” she shouted, and he laughed again and stepped toward the portal.

“Elwynn Forest is fine, thank you,” he told Soridormi, and she nodded serenely. He paused at the portal’s edge. “I will, ah, stay this young, correct? And then age normally?” Another nod from the dragon, and in a fit of youthful giddiness he turned around and, heart soaring, one brow raised, waved cheerfully at Saeri as he stepped backwards into the portal.

A blindingly bright flash of light and a echoing, ripping, ringing, static shock of a sensation burning through his being and he landed in ankle-deep mud on the bank of a lake. He laughed as he steadied himself, then he darted into the trees before any nearby murlocs could take notice. He could hear the bustle of Goldshire and when he tripped into the clearing surrounding the town he saw the very tops of the white walls of Stormwind. He smiled so wide he felt as if his face might crack from the strain and started walking.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> You can have the universe he goes back to be more like the movie or the game, entirely up to you. 
> 
> Also - the entire time I was writing this I was thinking "because fuck you, Blizzard, that's why". Just FYI.


End file.
